The Dazzler
by William Logan
Summary: Everything seemed to be going right for teen pop sensation Alison Blaire, a hit album, a sold out tour, millions of adoring fans, until a strange incident at one of her concerts changes her life forever. Please R&R! (Two new chapters added!)
1. The Pop Princess

Disclaimer: X-Men: Evolution and all related names belong to Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Anything else I mention belongs to someone else.  
  
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"The Dazzler"  
By William Logan  
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Chapter 1: The Pop Princess  
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Sixteen year old pop sensation Alison Blaire watched the stage as the opening performer, an eighteen year old girl by the name of Lila Cheney, finished her set. Lila was a sweet girl, and a very promising rising star in the music industry. Being on tour with the biggest pop sensation since Britney Spears also helped Lila quite a bit. Alison sighed, nervous running her fingers through her wavy, waist-length blonde hair, turning to look at her so-nicknamed "wardrobe master," Cheryl.  
  
"Are you sure I look all right?" Alison asked nervously, gesturing at the loose fitting light pink top she wore, which stopped just above her well-toned, tan stomach, exposing her pierced navel. The navel piercing had caused a bit of controversy amongst the more conservative parents of her young fans, and though she tried to keep her image cleaner than most of the other female pop stars out there, rumors flew wildly about where Alison was seen with who doing what. Completing her ensemble were a pair of worn, snug-fitting jeans, her feet left bare as a "statement" as Cheryl had put it. Alison's only thought on the barefoot statement was that her toes were getting cold.  
  
"You look fine, darling, you have nothing to worry about. You could go out there in a potato sack and you'd still knock 'em dead with that voice of yours," Cheryl smiled, "not that I'd ever let you wear something as dreadful as that." Alison nodded, making sure the batteries in her microphone headset were fully charged, she prepared herself for the stage. Lila came bounding backstage, her black hair clinging to her sweaty face.  
  
"They're animals out there tonight!" Lila panted, grabbing a bottle of water off a table, "there's some guy out there with a sign asking if you'll go to the prom with him." Alison blushed, shaking her head.  
  
"Well, wish me luck." Alison said as she listened to the MC start listing her credentials, hyping the fact that her album "The Dazzler" sold over five million copies on the first day it was available.  
  
"Like a girl like you needs it," Lila huffed, her voice a mix of admiration and jealousy.  
  
"...give it up for... Alison Blaire!" The crowd roared as the lights went down. Alison stepped out on stage, losing all signs of nervousness and transforming into a being of ultimate confidence as she strutted, belting out the first few lines of her hit single "Electric," a typical teen pop ballad of high school love between a modern day Romeo and Juliet. As the music pounded and the sweet sounds of Alison's voice filled the arena, mingling with the screamed cheers of her fans, the teen star could feel a strange energy building up inside of her, driving her on as she danced in a fashion packed with enough hip shaking to take the breath away from any red blooded teenage boy, although still innocent enough that her younger fans could watch it without being scolded by their parents. As the music grew louder, Alison could feel a different kind of energy building up inside of her, something uncomfortable, a force struggling to get out. As the song drew to a close, Alison struck a pop diva pose, one hand pointing at the audience, the other straight towards the sky. That was when it happened, the energy built up inside of her seemed to release all at once. A brilliant flash of light surrounded her body, expanding in all directions, momentarily blinding everyone in the audience. After coming out of their momentary daze, the fans of the young pop star began wildly applauding what they believed to be some spectacular special effects. Alison, however, was left dazed and confused, stumbling as the next song began. The energy inside of her had somehow escaped, but as the music started up again, she could feel it begin to build up. All she could do was continue performing and hope that nothing like that happened again.  
  
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To Be Continued  
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	2. Secrets

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Chapter 2: Secrets  
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The concert had been over for a few hours now, the entire stage setup had been packed up and Alison had met all of the fans with backstage passes and signed autographs. She was now sitting in her dressing room, rubbing her temples as the roadies packed up the last of her clothes.  
  
"Hey, you all right, kid?" Alison looked up at the doorway to see her manager, Tom Cooper, standing there, a look of concern on his features.  
  
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She bluffed, picking up a can of Cherry Coke off her dressing table and taking a swig, swishing the cola around in her mouth before swallowing.  
  
"You seemed pretty beat after the show, was wondering what was wrong," Tom said, entering and taking a seat in one of the plastic chairs that had been provided by the venue.  
  
"What, didn't you see that flash of light out there? What could that have been, do you know?" She asked, "it was very distracting," she mentioned nothing of the feelings of a power building up inside of her and then finally being released when the blinding flash occurred.  
  
"It was probably a light bulb that blew," he said, "you know how those things flare up before they go completely." Tom shrugged, ducking under her table to access the cooler, pulling out a Diet Coke for himself.  
  
"Yeah, a light bulb," she murmured, leaning back in her chair, tossing her golden locks back with a yawn. "What are the next few stops on the tour, Tom?"  
  
"Uh... first one is in New Jersey, after that we're heading to Bayville," he said.  
  
"Bayville... hasn't that town been on the news quite a bit lately?" she asked, sitting back up again to look at her manager.  
  
"Yeah, home of the X-Men," he said, "buncha mutant freaks."  
  
"Hey, some of those 'freaks' are paying to see me sing," Alison retorted, "now you can't complain about that, now can you?"  
  
"Money's money, babe," Tom said with a grin, "just as long as the muties don't cause a ruckus! Now you get ready to go, we'll be leaving in a few minutes." He patted the teen star on the shoulder and left. She just sighed and grabbed her trusty old portable CD player and placed her headphones over her ears, touching play and sighing as she listened to some instrumental rock. After a few moments, much to her dismay, she began to feel the energy starting to build up inside of her again.  
  
"Oh no..." she murmured, glancing around to see if there was anyone watching. She concentrated on the energies, drawing them to the front of her mind, then stretched out a hand almost instinctively toward her empty can of Cherry Coke. A soft white glow appeared around her hand, and suddenly a beam of light shot forth from her fingers, enveloping the can. She concentrated further, trying to explore this newfound ability, and the beam seemed to take up a substance, finally blasting the Coke can off of her desk.  
  
"Uh... Alison?" She jumped out of her chair, placing her hands behind her back like a child trying to hide a cookie she had stolen. She looked at Lila Cheney standing before her, suspiciously eyeing her. "What were you doing there?" Alison bit her lower lip, stopping her CD player and placing it on the dressing table.  
  
"Close the door," Alison said, checking nervously behind Lila, making sure no one was around to listen in. Lila came in and closed the door behind her, brushing her long raven hair back behind her ear. "I think I may be a mutant," she said in a hushed tone.  
  
"What... that flash of light earlier?" Lila asked, "Tom said that was probably just a light bulb blowing out." Alison shook her head.  
  
"No, watch this..." she picked up her headphones again, pressing play and waiting for the power to build up inside of her. The moment she felt ready, she stretched out her hand, firing a blast of light at a chair, toppling it over.  
  
"Wow!" Lila said, "what are you going to do, though?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You know how Tom feels about mutants," Lila said, leaning against the door, "if he finds out..."  
  
"Don't tell him, Lila! Please, don't tell him... it would be the end of my career!" Alison pleaded, her eyes almost filling with tears at the thought of being forced to quit show business.  
  
"Relax, Alison, I won't tell him," Lila said, patting Alison lightly on the shoulder, "you're the one who gave me the chance to perform on stage in the first place. I owe you at least that much." Just then, the door opened, revealing Tom on the other side. Both girls were given quite a start by this sudden invasion.  
  
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?!" Alison snapped.  
  
"Hey, you guys have plenty of time for chitchatting on the bus... now let's go!" Tom said, ushering the two girls out to the tour bus where they headed off for their next show.  
  
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To Be Continued  
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	3. Help from A Friend

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Chapter 3: Help from A Friend  
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Alison sat quietly, her legs folded underneath her like a pretzel, on her bunk in the large tour bus she had called home for the past two months. She had changed out of her concert clothes into a more comfortable loose T-shirt and jean shorts, her bare toes wiggling in the air. Her long golden locks were pulled back into a ponytail that swayed with the movements of the bus down the road. On her lap sat an old acoustic guitar, which she strummed at absentmindedly, playing out tunes which flowed through her mind. She began to softly hum melodies to songs that she had not yet written, smiling a bit when she found a progression of notes that she really liked. Alison leaned over to grab a pen and paper and scribbled down the chords, momentarily pausing to chew on the pen as she thought of lyrics to go along with the music. She was given a bit of a startle when the door to her room swung open, revealing Tom standing on the other side.  
  
"Goodness, Tom! When are you going to learn to knock?!" she grumbled, turning back to another sheet of paper on which she had written a few verses to a song she was working on.  
  
"Lock the door if you don't want anyone to come in," he grunted. He scrambled through his pockets and found a cigar, placing it in his mouth and lighting it, taking a good drag and blowing a few smoke rings in Alison's direction. He wandered over to her bunk and picked up the papers she was looking over and started reading them himself.  
  
"Please, go ahead, read my stuff while giving me cancer from secondhand smoke! If you want, I'll go find my diary so you can look through that, too," she snapped. Tom had become more and more obnoxious lately about not giving Alison any privacy, it annoyed her to no end.  
  
"What is this crap all about," he waved his hand at her lyrics.  
  
"It's about feeling different from everyone else, and how people alienate those who are different," she replied, a bit upset about his opinion of her work, "I was thinking maybe we could use it on my next album."  
  
"Alison, darling," he said, tossing the papers back on her bunk, "we already have the whole song list written up for the next album."  
  
"I'm tired of singing someone else's words... I've been working hard on this all," she said, fighting back tears, "I'm finding it more and more difficult to pump out hit after hit when I'm singing about things I hardly even know about."  
  
Tom grunted in response, "This stuff you're writing is not what our target audience wants to listen to."  
  
"How do you know that?" Alison asked, "You never gave it a chance."  
  
"Maybe we can discuss this another time... for now---" he was cut off by his cell phone, which he promptly grabbed from his belt and answered, "Hello, Tom Cooper here. Hey, James, baby, how are you doing? Good, good... the wife and kids?" he wandered out of the room, ignoring any further statements Alison might have made. A few moments later, Lila entered the room, sitting on her bunk opposite Alison. In her hand was a copy of Teen Hitz magazine which she was reading quite interestedly.  
  
"Hey, Alison, did you know that you've been nominated most likely to be the next person to date Justin Timberlake?" Lila said, glancing up at Alison after she received no response. Tears were rolling down the other girl's cheeks as she stared at a sheet of paper laying next to her. "Alison, are you okay?" The blonde tressed celebrity threw her guitar aside and grabbed the pieces of paper, crumpling them all into a large ball, throwing the whole collection on the floor. "Tom have another talk to you about writing your own stuff?" Lila frowned, bending down to pick up the paper ball, uncrumpling it and studying the words.  
  
"He told me that all that I have written there is trash," Alison sniffled, trying desperately to control her soft sobs, "I poured my heart into that, and he told me it's trash."  
  
"Tom's motto is 'if it don't make cash, then it's trash.' If he gave this a chance, he'd see that you'd have an even broader audience than you have now. This is really excellent! I wish I could write stuff like this," Lila smiled, handing the wrinkled paper back to Alison. A half smile crossed Alison's features. "So, have you been experiencing any more... you know...."  
  
"Flashes of power? Only when there's a constant noise to draw energy from it seems," she said, "it's becoming a bit easier to control, but that's not saying much." Lila nodded, standing up.  
  
"I'll be right back," she said, heading into the bathroom of the bus, closing the door behind her and locking it. She reached for her cell phone and dialed, pushing her short black hair back behind one ear as she listened for an answer. After three rings, a response came.  
  
"Hello?" an accented voice said on the other end of the line.  
  
"Hey, Remy, it's Lila Cheney... remember me?" She smiled.  
  
"Of course, chere, how could I forget? What can I do fo' jou?"  
  
"Well, remember how you said to call you if I ever met someone like us... another mutant?" Lila asked, remembering back to when she met Remy, a very confusing time when her power, the ability to teleport anywhere that she could think of, was completely out of control. Remy had helped her through that time and had comforted her by telling her about how in the past his powers raged out of control, although he had never told her exactly how he had gotten them under his control. He had always been very mysterious about that.  
  
"Yeah," Remy said, "who is she?"  
  
"Alison Blaire," she replied, "she's suddenly developed the ability to convert sound into energy that she shoots out of her body, or something like that. She's having a hard time controlling it... do you think you could help her?" There was a long pause on the other end of the line.  
  
"When jou get to Bayville, chere, some friends of mine will meet jou dere. I can't tell jou much more dan dat. I've gotta go now. Talk to jou later," the phone went silent. Lila frowned slightly, sad that she hadn't gotten the chance to talk longer with her old friend Remy, but she was glad that there was a chance that he might be able to help Alison get her powers under control.  
  
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To Be Continued  
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	4. Backstage Players

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Chapter 4: Backstage Players  
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"Hey, guys, guess what my father just sent me!" Pietro Maximoff cried as he ran into the Brotherhood Boarding House, waving an envelope about. Todd Tolansky, Lance Alvers, and Fred Dukes sat in the living room, watching television, completely ignoring the cries of their team leader. "Aren't you guys the least bit curious?"  
  
"If it doesn't have anything to do with food, I'm not interested," Fred stated.  
  
"They're backstage passes to the Alison Blaire concert this Tuesday!" Pietro crowed with a grin, waving the envelope about some more. The other Brotherhood members groaned loudly.  
  
"What kind of punishment is this, yo?" Todd whined, "what makes him think we'd want to go see some teeny bopper singer?"  
  
"It might not be so bad, she's pretty hot," Lance grinned. Fred just rolled his eyes, shaking his head.  
  
"So how does this fit in with our plans to take down the X-Men and become a part of Magneto's team?" Fred asked, looking to Pietro.  
  
"You losers didn't let me get that far, did you?" The silver haired teenager said with a sigh, "now listen... my father was tipped off by a friend of Alison's that she's been exhibiting mutant powers."  
  
"So we're going to go try and recruit her?" Lance said.  
  
"You're a bona fide genius, Lance! You deserve a cookie for that!" Pietro said sarcastically, "we're going to need all the help we can get to take down the X-Men. Now, I'm going to go work on my sales pitch." With that he sped upstairs, leaving the three other teenage boys alone.  
  
"Yeah, gonna go work on his father's propaganda," Lance grunted, turning his attention back to the TV, "well, I for one wouldn't mind having someone new around here to maybe balance out the sanity."  
  
"C'mon, Lance... look at our luck with female members of the team. Rogue turned traitor, Tabby was just plain nuts, and Scarlet Witch was---" Fred's list was cut off by Todd.  
  
"Beautiful beyond reason," the green boy grinned sappily. Fred slapped his own forehead, shaking his head.  
  
"I'm surrounded by idiots," he groaned.  
  
"This from the biggest genius in the Brotherhood?" Lance chuckled.  
  
"Hey! At least I don't have an Alison Blaire poster in my room... right next to the picture of Kitty on the night table!"  
  
"Shut up, wide load," Lance growled. The arguing continued on in this fashion for several minutes until Pietro was forced to come downstairs after a series of sudden earthquakes interrupted his train of thought.  
  
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Meanwhile, in the X-Mansion, the construction of which had just drawn to a close, another cry was heard throughout the place.  
  
"Yes!" Amara Aquilla cried, rushing downstairs into the large family room to find most of the other X-Men sitting around the big screen TV. "Guys, guess what! I just won four backstage passes to the Alison Blaire concert!" She squealed in delight, hopping up and down. Kitty was the first X-Man to respond.  
  
"Wow! Really? That's so cool! Who are you going to take with you?"  
  
"Well, um... I was going to ask you first, since I know you're a fan of hers," Amara said, seeming to put serious thought into this.  
  
"All right!" Kitty said, bouncing on her toes happily. It had been a while since she had been to a concert, and from what she had heard on MTV, this tour was simply awesome.  
  
"Tabby, would you like to go?" Amara asked the blonde-haired mutant girl.  
  
"You bet, Amara, babe! It'd be a blast!" She grinned, "thanks for inviting me!" The other X-Men remained quiet, apparently rather uninterested.  
  
"Rogue?" Amara asked, "how about you?"  
  
"Oh, no way I am going to some teeny bopper concert. Get tickets to a Rob Zombie concert and maybe we'll talk, sugah." Rogue replied, turning her attention back to the TV.  
  
"Hey, I'll go vith you," Kurt said, "I think I could stand suffering through a couple hours of cute girls dancing up on stage. Would give the fuzzy man a chance to shake his tail!" He grinned, demonstrating his dancing technique, which earned him a few odd looks.  
  
"Great!" Amara beamed, "the concert is on Tuesday, I hope you guys don't have other plans then...." The three fellow X-Men shook their heads, indicating that they did not. Amara, Kitty, Tabby, and Kurt would be at the Bayville Arena that Tuesday night. Little did they know that they would have familiar, and very much unwanted, company.  
  
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To Be Continued  
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	5. Girl Talk

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Chapter 5: Girl Talk  
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Alison laid in her bunk on the tour bus, which was now on its way to Bayville to yet another sold out concert. She looked out the window, watching trees speed by, every now and then a car passing by. She smiled, remembering back to when she was a little girl and she thought that when she got in the car, the world somehow magically began to move around her and the car actually stood still. The soft pitter-patter of rain started to fall on the roof of the bus, a gentle rhythm running alongside her ever rushing thoughts. Those childhood days of innocence were lost to Alison now, harsh realities had become apparent to her, like she had to keep secret who she really was, in more ways than one. Tom wouldn't allow her to sing her own music, robbing her of displaying her heart and soul in front of millions, and she had to hide that she was a mutant, for fear of rejection and hatred. She allowed a few unseen tears fall onto her pillow before she turned back around to the unlit cabin she laid in, letting her eyes readjust to the dark. She closed her eyes, trying to get at least a little bit of sleep.  
  
"Hey, Alison, are you awake?" Lila's voice said from the bunk across the way.  
  
"Wide awake," she grumbled, "I don't think I'm going to get a moment's sleep tonight... maybe I'll catch a nap before the concert tomorrow." She propped herself up on her elbow, her long golden ponytail dangling from between her fingers. Lila sat up as well, her short raven hair bobbing with the movement.  
  
"I made a phone call last night," she said, "to someone who might be able to help you... with your new 'talents.'"  
  
"Oh my God," Alison gasped, scrambling to sit up, covering her mouth with a hand, "you told someone?! You promised me you wouldn't tell anyone!" She didn't know whether to scream in anger or sob at the betrayal of trust.  
  
"Alison," Lila said, reaching out to touch the other girl's shoulder, though Alison immediately recoiled, her eyes still wide in shock, brimming with tears, "Alison, you can trust this friend of mine... he helped me with my gifts."  
  
"Your... what?! You mean, you're one too?" Alison's head was essentially spinning now, all these things thrown at her all at once, she simply couldn't process it all.  
  
"Yes," Lila said, "I can teleport across vast distances," she explained, "basically, I don't really even need this tour bus to get to Bayville."  
  
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Alison asked.  
  
"I was afraid of how you would react," Lila replied honestly, frowning, "but back when I first discovered them, I had a hard time controlling them... that was when I met a young man by the name of Remy LeBeau, who helped me through that time. He was so charming... and had such gorgeous red eyes. Long story, those," she laughed softly, followed by a dreamy sigh.  
  
"You had it bad for the guy, didn't you?" Alison grinned, "tell me more about him!" She forgot about all of her real problems in favor of some guy talk.  
  
"Well... he has this incredible accent... Cajun, I think. Wow... that accent itself was enough to make this girl melt," they both giggled. "You know, I think I have a picture of him," she grabbed her tattered old backpack, digging through it quickly before until she found it, "Ah, here it is..." she handed it to Alison, who studied the picture of her friend Lila, her hair worn long instead of the very short style she had been wearing it in as of late, standing with a ruggedly handsome man wearing a New Orleans Saints jersey and dark sunglasses.  
  
"Ooo... he is cute," Alison grinned, "so what was that about his red eyes?"  
  
"Well, he didn't like showing those," Lila replied, "he never did like drawing attention to himself. He was a real mysterious type."  
  
"So what happened to the two of you? You looked so happy in that picture," Alison asked, reaching around to pull her ponytail holder out, shaking loose her long golden curls.  
  
"We grew apart, I guess," Lila shrugged, "it's ancient history now. It was nice while it lasted," she smiled, "we remained friends for a while... then he disappeared. Just left me a cell phone number to reach him in emergencies."  
  
"And the appearance of my mutant powers qualified as an emergency, I guess?" She asked.  
  
"Yes," Lila replied, running a hand through her black hair, "he helped me more than I care to admit through those difficult days. I wanted to see if he had any advice for me, or something. All he said was that he had some friends who would meet us in Bayville."  
  
"Well, let's hope that they can help me, too," Alison said, smiling thinly.  
  
"I guess all we can do is hope," Lila said with a light shrug of her shoulders.  
  
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To Be Continued  
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	6. The Friend of a Friend of a Friend

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Chapter 6: The Friend of a Friend of a Friend  
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"Wow, that was some concert, wasn't it, guys?" Amara asked, grinning as she walked toward the backstage area of the Bayville Arena with her three friends, Kitty, Tabby, and Kurt.  
  
"Yeah, that was great! I wonder if I can get that one dancer's phone number while we're backstage," Tabby purred with a grin and a wiggle of her eyebrows. They approached the backstage area, where a small number of fans had already gathered for their chance to meet the one and only Alison Blaire.  
  
"I think he'd be scared of you, Tabby," Kurt chuckled, tossing back his image-induced black hair.  
  
"Aw, that's not very nice at all, Blue Boy," Tabby giggled, pouncing on Kurt's back and ruffling his hair up, "you aren't scared of me, are you? Is this the face of a scary person?" she batted her eyelashes playfully, kissing Kurt's fuzzy cheek.  
  
"Very much so," Kurt said, a light blush coming to his cheeks.  
  
"I just can't believe we're getting to meet Alison Blaire! This is so exciting! I don't think anything could ruin this for me," Amara squealed as they finally reached the backstage area, where a couple of other young fans stood, backstage passes hanging around their necks.  
  
"Well, Amara, then don't look now," Tabby groaned, "looks like Lance and the loser boys have come to crash the party." The three other X-Men turned to see the mutant teenagers, all in their standard civvies.  
  
"Lance, what are you and the loser boys doing here?" Kitty snapped, her face red with anger.  
  
"Trust me, it wasn't my idea," Lance said, motioning with his eyes toward Pietro, "check with our fearless leader for further details. I wouldn't have been caught dead here tonight, otherwise."  
  
"This from the guy who was just in the bathroom checking his hair to make sure he'd look good for Miss Blaire?" Todd snickered, leaping up onto Fred's shoulder to avoid a swing from Lance.  
  
"Well, sweet stuff, let me put it this way," Pietro started, ignoring the glares that the collected mutants were getting from the other fans. He darted to stand beside Kitty, leaning his elbow against her shoulder, "we know something about Alison that you don't... and we'll just leave it at that, okay?" He patted her on the head degradingly, "Good Kitty. Good, simple, little Kitty." he used his hyper speed to back away from Kitty before she could even think about doing anything damaging to his person. However, as he ran back to the Brotherhood, he didn't notice that Lance's foot had been placed in his path, sending the silver haired speedster tumbling end over end for several yards.  
  
"Oops, sorry," Lance shrugged, not sounding apologetic in the least as he glanced at Kitty and smiled thinly. She returned the smile quickly, but so her friends wouldn't notice she immediately afterwards rolled her eyes and turned away from Lance. He, however, understood that she appreciated what he did, in some small degree.  
  
"Just see if you guys can stay out of trouble, vill you?" Kurt glared at the Brotherhood boys, especially Pietro, who was walking back up beside his gang, dusting himself off. Just then, the guard standing in front of Alison's door stepped aside and the blonde haired pop star emerged, smiling in a very friendly fashion at all of her fans. She paused to greet each and every one of them, answering and questions that they had and signing memorabilia that they had brought to her. Finally, she got to the last few people, the X-Men and the Brotherhood.  
  
"I hope you liked the show tonight," she said, smiling thinly, eyeing Pietro, Lance, Todd, and Fred suspiciously.  
  
"Oh, yeah! It was, like totally awesome!" Kitty cried, a grin spreading across her face.  
  
"How did you learn to dance so well?" Amara asked.  
  
"My choreographer, Frederick, worked with me for quite some time before I got my moves down," Alison replied, smiling as she signed a photograph that Amara handed her. As she moved to the Brotherhood, Lance fumbled in his pocket, producing a folded wall poster, at which the rest of the Brotherhood, as well as the X-Men, stared in disbelief.  
  
"A big fan, I see," Alison giggled lightly as she autographed the poster, which Lance promptly refolded and placed back in his pocket.  
  
"Yeah, I've been listening to your stuff since you started," Lance said with a grin.  
  
"And drooling over your music videos, too," Fred added with a chuckle. Lance merely glared at him as Alison began giggling again.  
  
"Nice to know that I'm appreciated." She said with a warm smile and a blush in her cheeks. The X-Men could only watch and wait for the other mutant teenagers to do something suspicious, besides the very fact that they were backstage at the concert of a teen pop star. Kitty found herself growing slightly jealous at the apparent chemistry between Lance and Alison, but reminded herself that she had to be pleasant to all of her fans. Pietro stepped up beside Alison with a smarmy grin on his face, handing her a small slip of paper.  
  
"A friend of mine asked me to give this to you. One Remy LeBeau," he said. Alison's face paled slightly as she took the piece of paper and stuck it in her pocket, nodding.  
  
"All right... well... thank you, everyone for coming out tonight, it means so much to see every one of you. Without you guys there really would be no me, so I thank you. Goodnight!" She blew kisses to the assembled fans and headed back into her dressing room. The X-Men watched her depart, then turned to confront the Brotherhood, only to find that they had disappeared.  
  
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To Be Continued  
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	7. Choices and Lacks Thereof

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Chapter 7: Choices and Lacks Thereof  
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Alison sat in her dressing room, chewing on her lower lip while she stared at the slip of paper handed to her by the silver haired mutant boy.  
  
"Meet us out back at 11 PM if you're interested in learning more about your powers," Alison murmured to herself. She was torn in two by this decision... on one hand, she really would like to learn more about her powers and how to control them. On the other hand, she didn't know anything about the four mutants that had come up to her at the end of her show. All that she knew was that they were the friends of a friend of Lila, and that wasn't quite enough for her. She tucked the piece of paper into her pocket and grabbed her CD player, hanging her headphones around her neck. Just in case she ended up in trouble, she figured that if she had a source of sound she'd be able to defend herself to some degree. Alison grabbed a coat that hung on one of her clothes racks and made quickly for the door, breezing past everyone and walking out the back door of the arena, into the parking lot. She looked at her watch, it was 10:54. After a few moments of waiting, a jeep pulled up in front of her. In the driver's seat was the older, handsome brown haired boy, sitting next to him was the rather heavyset teenager, and in the backseat were the silver-haired boy and the kid with the strange greenish skin.  
  
"Hop in, sweet stuff," the silver-haired boy said, patting the seat next to him. Alison took a deep breath and hopped in, not looking back. The jeep sped off down the road. The teen pop star momentarily wondered if she was just about the make the biggest mistake in her life, just running off like this, not even telling Lila where she was going. "My name's Pietro," the kid next to her said, "this is Todd, Fred, and Lance." He introduced her to the other members of the team, "we call ourselves the Brotherhood. All four of us are mutants, fighting against discrimination by the humans. We thought you might like to learn more about our cause..." Alison swallowed, then nodded slowly.  
  
"All right, you have my attention."  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
Meanwhile, Kitty, Kurt, Tabby, and Amara were following the Brotherhood in the X-Van. Much to everyone's dismay, Tabby was driving.  
  
"Shouldn't we be going for some more stealth?" Kurt cried from the back as the van nearly tipped over as Tabby turned a corner.  
  
"Hey, we gotta keep up with the Loserhood!" Tabby said, "and a car chase isn't as exciting if it's not at high speed!" She let out a loud whoop as she hit the accelerator. The three passengers gripped onto the arm rests for dear life.  
  
"I am going to die," Kurt whimpered.  
  
"Hey, why dontcha learn how to drive?" Tabby screamed out the window at a passing driver who she had nearly collided head on with. "Some people think they can drive on any part of the road!"  
  
"Yes, how dare they drive on the right side of the road," Kurt muttered to himself, covering his eyes.  
  
"They're turning!" Amara cried, pointing out Lance's jeep to Tabby.  
  
"Hang on, everyone!" Tabby shouted, "woohoo!" Kurt just whimpered softly, curling up slowly into a fetal position.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
"Wow, you guys make some really good points," Alison said as the Brotherhood pulled to a stop in front on the Brotherhood Boarding House. She grimaced, looking at the dim, ramshackle place as she stepped out of the jeep. There was a light on in the living room, and from what she saw from where she was standing, it wasn't in very good condition. She walked over the brown and dead grass, following Lance up the three old, creaking stairs to the front door. Just as he pulled his keys out of his pocket, the door swung open, revealing a dark figure in red and black, a purple cape flowing around him. Lance stumbled backwards off the top step in surprise, nearly falling to the ground, until he collided with Fred, who place him back on his feet. The man stepped out of the doorway, his face partially hidden from view by his blood red helmet. Alison broke out in a cold sweat and turned to run, only to find that she couldn't move. She couldn't decide if it was out of fear or if the man was actually doing something to prevent her from going any further. All that she knew was that she wasn't going anywhere.  
  
"F-father... what are you doing here?" Pietro stammered nervously.  
  
"I thought I would pay my son and his companions a visit... and welcome personally my newest Acolyte, Alison Blaire," a chilling smile could be seen on the face of the man in the gladiator-style helmet.  
  
"Hey, I didn't sign up for anything!" Alison protested, now sure that the man was doing something to prevent her from moving, as she had been trying to run for the past few moments.  
  
"Nonetheless you will be coming with me," he smiled, "I have plans for you." Alison did her best at that moment not to break down into tears.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
To Be Continued  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
Note: Credit goes to Red Witch for helping to inspire the driving scene after her recent Kitty fic "She Drives Like Crazy" 


	8. Confusion

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
Chapter 8: Confusion  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
The X-Van screeched to a halt half a block from the Brotherhood pad, and a few minutes later, Amara, Tabby, Kurt, and Kitty jumped out in their combat uniforms, running down the road toward the Brotherhood Boarding House. Kurt looked a little more than relieved to finally be out of the car that Tabby had been driving.  
  
"I wonder what Lance and the loser gang want with Alison," Tabby said as they moved in.  
  
"Vhatever it is, you can be sure Magneto has a hand in it," Kurt replied.  
  
They stopped on the corner across the street from the ramshackle building that the Brotherhood boys called home, seeing the boys and Alison standing on the front porch. In front of them stood a shadowy figure in a cape, a truly imposing character, and one frighteningly familiar to all of the X-Men.  
  
"Magneto!" Amara cried out, "what's he doing here?"  
  
"I don't know," Kitty said, "he usually lets the Brotherhood do his dirty work!"  
  
"Shouldn't ve vait for back up before moving in against Magneto?" Kurt asked, his yellow eyes darting back and forth among the three girls.  
  
"There's no time for that," Tabby said, a glowing orange ball appearing in her left hand, growing in size by the moment, "we've gotta rescue her... c'mon!" Before anyone else could say anything, Tabby tossed her time bomb across the street, watching as it rolled across the lawn. She led the charge at the Brotherhood house, and the rest of the X-Men could do little but follow.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
Todd watched as Magneto moved towards Alison, his gloved hand outstretched toward the blonde-haired pop star. He felt a chill go down his spine, realizing just how afraid she must be, also knowing what kind of man Magneto was, he felt very afraid of her indeed. His fear for his own well being outweighed, that, however. He wasn't going to risk his life for some stranger. His train of thought was interrupted when he heard a familiar soft crackle of energy behind him. He turned, seeing one of Tabby's energy bombs resting on the ground behind him and let out a yelp, leaping on top of Fred's head.  
  
"Uh, fellas, we ain't alone no more!" He cried, attracting the attention of the entire Brotherhood, as well as Magneto, just as the time bomb went off, knocking all of the mutants backwards, Todd taking the worst fall of them all, tumbling off of Fred's head and ending up in Lance's lap, from which he was rather quickly ejected. Magneto looked up and saw the X-Men approaching and a scowl crossed his face.  
  
"Fools," he said, "when will they learn not to interfere?" He stretched out a hand, seizing a nearby parked car and dropping it in the X-Men's path, the glass of all the car's windows shattering as it smashed into the pavement. Shadowcat phased straight through, undeterred. Nightcrawler teleported onto the Brotherhood's lawn, and Tabby and Amara, her body now seemingly encased in fire, took the long way around.  
  
Alison panicked, finding herself now free of Magneto's grasp, but having no where to run for safety. She didn't know who to trust anymore, the Brotherhood and their enigmatic, very frightening, leader Magneto, or this new group of costumed mutants. All that she knew was that she was in very real danger. She reached up with her trembling hands to grab her headphones and place them over her ears, starting her CD but ignoring the music that came out, merely concentrating on building up enough power to defend herself if need be. She watched in shocked silence as the teenager whose name she had learned was Lance outstretched his hand, his eyes rolling back into his head, and the ground began to tremble. A chasm opened up between the costumed mutants and the Brotherhood, underground water pipes surfacing and spilling out onto the lawn. The girl whose body seemed to be entirely engulfed in flames was hurling fireballs at Fred, who seemed to be completely unaffected, laughing and charging at the girl. The boy with the furry blue complexion and long, pointed tail was disappearing and reappearing in puffs of pink smoke, trying to keep up with Pietro, who was running circles around him. She watched the chaos of the battle unfold before her, and then realized that the tall, imposing man in the gladiator helmet had vanished from her sight. She began to look around for him, but could see no trace, until a heavy hand grasped her by the shoulder.  
  
"You will be coming with me now, Alison," she looked up to see the man's cold gray eyes and cried out in terror. She reached up a hand to push the man away, and concentrated on the energy that she had allowed to build up inside of her. A beam of bright white light flashed forth from her hand, solidly connecting with the costumed man's shoulder, knocking him back a few steps. Alison scrambled to her feet, backing away from the now very angry Magneto, firing off another burst of light with her hands. Through her headphones, she could vaguely make out the sound of sirens filling the air. The foe she had been fighting looked at the police, then back at Alison. "I will be returning for you," he stated quite simply before levitating off the ground and moving through the night sky to escape. She turned back to look at the battlefield, at the now-defeated four young men who had driven her here from the concert, all of them laying on the grass, rubbing various wounds. The four costumed mutants approached her.  
  
"Hi," the girl with a light complexion and brown hair said, "I'm Kitty... I know you've been through a lot tonight, and I understand if you refuse, but we'd like to invite you back to our place... to explain everything that happened tonight to you." Alison just stared at the girl, openmouthed.  
  
"After everything that's happened, you want me to just trust you," she said, "how do I know that they weren't trying to protect me from being kidnaped by you?!" Her voice was raising higher, her hands were now trembling in a mix of fear and rage.  
  
"You don't know that," Kitty replied, a frown distorting her face, "you'd just have to trust us."  
  
"No, I'm through trusting," Alison said, shrinking back.  
  
"Listen, if you change your mind... here's where you can find us," Kitty said, handing Alison a card, "Kurt, let's get out of here." The blue furred boy put his arms around his teammates shoulders and they all vanished in a puff of pink smoke, accompanied by a "bamf." Alison just stared at the spot where they had stood a few moments before, then headed over to a police car, looking at one of the officers and saying, "I'm ready to go back to the arena now."  
  
The officer pushed up his cap to get a better look at Alison. She was clearly shaken by the events of the past few moments, "What about these hoods?" he gestured at the Brotherhood.  
  
"Let them go," she said, "they didn't do anything to me. The four who just disappeared didn't try anything, either, I don't want to press any charges. I just want to return to my friends."  
  
"Very well, Miss Blaire," the police officer nodded, "we'll have to question the boys, and I'm sure the neighbors will wish to charge for disturbing the peace, but if you say that they didn't do anything to do, I believe you." Alison nodded in return, not really knowing if either team of mutants had meant to cause her harm, and wondering if she would ever really know the truth about what had happened that night.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
To Be Continued  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 


	9. The End A New Beginning

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
Chapter 9: The End --- A New Beginning  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
It was twenty minutes later that Alison finally arrived back at the arena, stepping out of the police car with an escort of several officers. There was a crowd gathered around her, most of them paparazzi, some fans, some mutant haters. She did her best to ignore them all, the flashbulbs and shouted questions grating on her nerves. She managed to retreat to the relative safety and quiet of her tour bus, closing the door behind her and sitting, resting her head against the back of the couch.  
  
"I hope you're not planning on staying there," Alison looked up to see Tom standing over her, a cigar hanging from his lips. He looked more than just a little bedraggled, the press had obviously been hounding him for the past half hour.  
  
"Look, Tom, I'm tired... I haven't had an easy day, just leave me alone," she grumbled, leaning her head back on the couch again.  
  
"Get off my tour bus," he said, pulling a sheet of paper out of his pocket. Alison looked up again, hearing the rustling of the paper and looked at him in shock.  
  
"That's my contract! What are you doing?" She cried in terror.  
  
"Turning it into confetti," he rapidly shredded it into dozens of tiny pieces, throwing it in the air and watching it flutter to the ground, "I'm not having a mutie working for me. You're finished! Now get out!" Alison could feel pure rage and hate welling up in the pit of her stomach, she wanted to do nothing more than to knock Tom clean across the bus, but she knew she couldn't. She just stood up and stared him straight in the face.  
  
"Fine, I'll leave," she said, rushing to the back to get her backpack, which contained her most important and personal belongings. She put it over her shoulders and frowned, tears streaming down her cheeks. She headed towards the front of the bus to leave just as Lila came in through the door, glancing from the cigar smoking manager to the tearstained face of her younger friend.  
  
"What's wrong, Alison?" she asked, putting a hand on Alison's shoulder.  
  
"Tom doesn't want a freak working for him... I've been fired," Alison replied.  
  
"Then I guess I quit, too," Lila said, glaring at the manager.  
  
"What?" He looked startled by the announcement, it was clear that he had been relying on Lila as his new star.  
  
"Alison isn't the only one with mutant powers," Lila said, and with that, she and Alison vanished from the van in a brilliant flash of light. Tom's mouth dropped open, his cigar hitting the ground with a dull thud.  
  
"Good riddance," he muttered, quite confident that no one would be hearing the names Lila Cheney or Alison Blaire ever again.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
Lila and Alison reappeared a few blocks away, both girls looking very upset by the happenings of the past hour. Alison had been reduced to tears, her dream of being a star had been shattered in just a few moments. This was balanced by her pure rage at the bigot Tom, who was so blinded by his hatred of mutants that he had fired her on the spot.  
  
"I'm sorry," Lila said softly, "this is all my fault... if I hadn't called Remy---"  
  
"Don't blame yourself," Alison sniffled, "you had no idea."  
  
"I guess people change," Lila said, frowning at the thought that Remy had become the type of person who would be friends with a man like the mutant terrorist who had tried to abduct Alison. "Now what do we do?" There was a brief silence between the two of them, until Alison stuck her hand in one of her pockets, finding a small piece of paper. She pulled it out, noticing that it was a business card. She pondered for a few moments and bit her lower lip, then looked back up at Lila.  
  
"I know," she said, a small smile creeping over her face.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
"One four oh-seven Graymalkin Lane," Alison said, glancing at the sign on the gate, "the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters."  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Lila asked, "we don't know if these people are any better than Remy's friends."  
  
"They helped me tonight," Alison replied, brushing a lock of her golden hair back behind her ear, "they told me if I ever needed help... to come here. I think I'm in need of help right now," she said with a small smile. She reached out and pressed the button near the gate, and a few moments later, it creaked open. Alison and Lila walked through, looking at the mansion as they moved, very impressed by its size. They walked up the front doorsteps and just as Lila put her hand up to knock, the door opened, revealing a kind-faced baldheaded man in a wheelchair on the other side. "I'm sorry to trouble you, sir, but I'm in need of..."  
  
"Help, yes, that is something I'm sure I can offer," the man smiled, "I am Professor Charles Xavier, please come in," Lila and Alison exchanged a brief glance at each other before entering. They stood in a grand foyer, empty except for the three of them. "I saw what happened on the news... I was glad to see that my X-Men were able to assist you. Are you quite all right?"  
  
"Yes, I'm... we're... fine," Alison said nervously, "I'd just like a place to stay for the night, me and Lila, that is... would that be...?"  
  
"You can stay as long as you like," Xavier smiled at them, "in fact, I hope that you feel at home here, we very much welcome new faces here." The pair of girls nodded slowly. They already felt very much at home in this place. Perhaps they would stay and become part of Xavier's school, but only time would tell.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
FIN  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
And for those of you not satisfied with that ending... there may be a sequel in the works, if there's enough demand for it. ;) 


End file.
